Boffin

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Boffin

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:06 pm

• boffin •

Pronunciation: bah-fin • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: (British slang) A scientific or technical specialist, such as a computer boffin.

Notes: Today's word is a near equivalent to nerd or egghead. It is used as a slang word for the most part in Britain and Australia. It is a lexical orphan with no derivational relatives. A few have tried boffineer and boffinry to no obvious avail.

In Play: Boffins are often assumed to have an awkward sense of everyday affairs: "Godfrey produced what might be expected from the boffin he is: a flowchart showing his wife how to hoover (vacuum) their home." We see a gathering of boffins in the movie "The Imitation Game", in which the chief boffin is Alan Turing, working within the Bletchley Circle, a secret decoding group in England.

Word History: No one knows the origin of today's Good Word, though we do know it arose in Britain during World War II, when scientific investigators were secretly solving problems from The Enigma Machine to the atom bomb. Eric Partridge proposed its eponym was Nicodemus Boffin, a Dickens' character in the novel Our Mutual Friend. This Boffin was an odd-looking fellow who pursued an education late in life. Others have suggested the names of a J. R. R. Tolkien character and a William Morris character for sources. The arguments for these origin are even less impressive than for the Dickens' character. (Our gratitude today is due our South African friend Chris Stewart for recommending today's puzzling Good Word.)
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Re: Boffin

Postby gwray » Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:10 am

Sometimes, having heard a word in context, I develop a sense of its meaning only to discover later that I am not quite right. I wonder if that is the case with this word.

I have had positive connotations of this word and thought it a friendly unaffected synonym of aficionado or enthusiast. The definition "a near equivalent to nerd or egghead" has a much more pejorative cast. I would be interested in the connotation others have for this word.
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Re: Boffin

Postby call_copse » Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:23 am

I'd say it's a shade closer to nerd than a word like say 'buff', but still fairly neutral in that it does not really imply a definite sense of social awkwardness, more perhaps distraction and technical focus. For example I'd say Prof. Fink on the Simpsons is a little further down the scale than being a mere boffin.

My interpretation anyhow.
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Re: Boffin

Postby LukeJavan8 » Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:34 pm

Totally unheard of around here.
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Slava
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Re: Boffin

Postby Slava » Fri Feb 13, 2015 8:33 am

I've always thought of boffin as being another word for wonk, or even maven.
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Re: Boffin

Postby Perry Lassiter » Fri Feb 13, 2015 7:42 pm

Nuance is important in boffin and the proposed synonyms. Nerd seems to be becoming a reference to more respectable people - technocrats. But nerd retains the implication of computer savvy, while maven is broader. The maven is at home in his environment, a word maven, a math maven, possibly even a car maven. Egghead focuses on intelligence with a implication he lives in an ivory tower, out of social contact. Wonk, of course, is most famous for its government role as in policy wonk. Don't know whether I've seen it used elsewhere.

Those are my general impressions. What has been your experience?
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Re: Boffin

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Feb 14, 2015 12:59 pm

And then there's 'geek'. We have a computer
company here, with traveling vans, called
"Geeks Limited".
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Re: Boffin

Postby call_copse » Mon Feb 16, 2015 12:12 pm

Maven has an implication of some kind of instruction for me whether as a mentor or just someone who likes to 'hold court'. No social difficulty implied at all. Eggheads, geeks and nerds are more likely to be 'on the spectrum' as they say in Silicon Valley. I'd probably not object to being described as any of them, being unfussed about these things, but boffin is perhaps kinder.
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Re: Boffin

Postby gwray » Wed Feb 18, 2015 6:48 pm

Thanks to all who responded with suggestions for near synonyms. I agree that 'boffin' connotes both enthusiasm and expert knowledge while the first characteristic is not required for aficionado.

I am pleased that the word is free of pejorative taint. Four people come to mind when I think of this word. In all cases they were fascinated and knowledgeable about a topic, and when asked a question related to their field of interest, immediately responded with delight and enthusiasm.
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Re: Boffin

Postby Slava » Thu Feb 19, 2015 8:37 am

I wonder if the positive aspect may come in part from the idea of great things being "boffo".
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